My chickens run on it and poo everywhere. The rain disperses it. I lock em up again and then after a few days of no rain, I rake it. Gorgeous and lush now.
xs1100,
Sep 6, 4:46am
make sure mower has sharp blades and never set below 3
lythande1,
Sep 6, 2:15pm
Mowing is sensible. Do the edges, by hand or machine, then mow using a catcher. Mow at the right level, not so low it chops it all off and leads to dead patches in summer, but not so high it isn't looking neat. Especially with Kikuyu, too high can lead to those weird looking spongy patches. as the mats get higher and higher.
If it's sick and patchy looking, you could feed it. Grass can die too in dry times. But really, it's just lawn, it grows back, never understood fussing over it to that extent.
golfdiver,
Sep 6, 2:28pm
I fertilise every 3 months, spray for flat weeds, spray twice yearly for Pia annua, and spray potassium nitrate in October to protect in summer. I cut much higher than most people. I'd like to run a deep coring machine through but unsure of the price. My lawn is fine rye.
survivalkiwi,
Sep 6, 2:34pm
I fertilse every six months with yates fertiliser and weedkiller. I water every second day in summer. (we get very little rain here in marlborough). I mow high which gives me a deep thick lawn that in the long run requires less mowing. I get a lot of comments on my lawn but really it does not take much to keep it weed free and lush.
jonners2013,
Sep 6, 2:34pm
Almost time for me to hire a corer machine, then I'll rake over some sand, put some clay breaker down and fertilise. Should be sweet by summer.
melford,
Sep 7, 2:01am
Thanks for those replies. keep 'em coming please some good lawn maintenance advice there
brightlights60,
Sep 7, 8:01am
We never "manicure". Mrs B here. Hubby mowes it, I maintain it. Gets fertilized twice a year, gets watered consistently and regularly in Summer (early morning and occasionally evening if its been very dry), it gets de-thatched at around this time of year, and gets treated for grass grubs when and if they appear. We found the best lawn we ever had put down was the spray on type. Looks fabulous after 5 years, well worth the money.
samanya,
Sep 7, 8:16pm
I'd be interested to know what type of machine you hire. My lawn (around 3/4 acre) has a lot of thatch in it. I used a large machine last year . it had a revolving spikes sort of action. It was OK & a damned big job! Hard to tell the success as the lawn burnt off badly over the summer as I haven't got enough water reserve to keep the entire garden going in such drought conditions. There's still a heap of thatch there, so thought I'd give it another go soon & then top dress & resow the patchy parts. There's a lot.
melford,
Sep 7, 11:14pm
I am going to do this soon. Last year I dethatched it but there wasn't any improvement to the grass. I like the idea of a corer and then sand as I think it will help with the drainage. After coreing I will fertilise
samanya,
Sep 8, 1:30am
I'm in the same area as you melford & the work I put in on my lawn didn't really make a lot of difference because of the drought conditions & the forecast are for the same again . but I'm going to keep on trying, have the fertiliser ready & the machine is going to be used, I have a lot of rain water tanks etc, but I save it for my vege garden is #1 & the flower gardens are #2 & the lawn is way down the track!
biggles45,
Sep 8, 1:41am
We use weed and feed annually (get the bottle that fits on the hose cos that's easier). Mow about every 5 days in summer, just when it starts looking untidy in winter (I think we've done it 3 times this winter).
nzdoug,
Sep 8, 3:43pm
2 weeks to go then prickle kill time in the Auckland area for Onehunga prickle weed.
rita197,
Sep 9, 5:56am
Fertilise every 3 months and don't cut too short in summer. Leave clippings on the lawn.
zoopa,
Sep 9, 8:57pm
I found that to be more feed the weeds than weed and feed
tub4,
Oct 3, 5:53pm
Weed n Feed here too, once in spring and again late summer. We also water down whatever there is left over for spot spraying.
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